


The Surgeon

by bwayfan25



Category: Doctor Who (2005), ER (TV 1994)
Genre: AU where the surgeon River gets is not quite the one she expected, Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe, Episode: 2015 Xmas The Husbands of River Song, F/M, Spoilers, Takes place somewhere in season nine of ER, so brace yourselves
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-11
Updated: 2020-03-11
Packaged: 2021-03-01 04:55:15
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,265
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23099674
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bwayfan25/pseuds/bwayfan25
Summary: The surgeon that Nardole brought from the village did not look at all like the photographs of the man she had sent for. In fact, this surgeon looked very, very familiar...ER/Doctor Who Crossover AU where The Surgeon that shows up in "The Husbands of River Song" is not the Twelfth incarnation of the Doctor, but rather a certain Trauma Surgeon from Chicago
Relationships: Elizabeth Corday/Mark Greene, Twelfth Doctor/River Song
Comments: 4
Kudos: 14





	The Surgeon

This wasn’t right. 

She had put Ella to bed and then fallen asleep in her apartment. Of that she was quite sure. 

She had finished folding the laundry, written a check to the nanny, and had laid down in her room to watch TV until she fell asleep. Why she was now in a snowy village she didn’t recognize, Elizabeth didn’t know. 

She looked around. 

It was clearly Christmas time. Lights adorned every building, lighting up the small village as bright as day, though the sky above was a deep midnight blue. Snow several inches thick covered the entirety of the village and giant flakes continued to fall around her. 

It reminded Elizabeth of her first snow in Chicago. 

Perfect snowman building weather, she thought. Ella would probably love it. 

But this definitely wasn’t Chicago. No, it couldn’t be. For one, there were no skyscrapers in the skyline, no muffled buzz of the city. Just a quiet street with the faintest hint of caroling. 

A few people passed her, bags in hand, eager to get home to their families.

Family.  _ Family _ . 

Ella. 

Where was Ella? Where was  _ she _ ? Wherever this was, it wasn’t Chicago. It wasn’t her apartment, her home. Somewhere, perhaps very far away, her daughter slept alone in their apartment. She wasn’t safe. 

Elizabeth had to do something. She had to get out of here, wherever here was. 

Blonde curls bouncing, Elizabeth looked right and left, desperate for help. 

That’s when she saw it. 

A blue police telephone box. Like the vintage ones she sometimes saw when she was home in London. It too had a good layer of snow on it. 

_ Perfect _ , she thought. If anyone would be able to help her, it was a policeman.

Elizabeth sped down the street, slipping only slightly on the snowy brick, before she came to a halt in front of the door of the telephone box. But just as she raised her hand to knock, she froze. 

Ella had gone over to her friend’s house for a sleepover. She, Elizabeth, had come home from County and gone straight to bed. The last time that she had kissed Ella goodnight was the night before. 

Ella was safe. Her daughter was safe and Elizabeth had nothing to worry about. 

Except, of course, she had no idea where the hell she was or how she’d gotten here. 

That was still a good reason to get a policeman, she figured. She raised her hand to rap on the door, only to hear someone clear their throat behind her. 

“Excuse me. Are you the surgeon?”

Elizabeth turned to see a bald man in a red duffle coat staring at her. 

The man’s eyes grew wide in something like recognition. She watched in confusion as he started nodding to her, almost like he was bowing.

“Sorry, ma’am. Sorry, ma’am,” he apologized. “I thought you were still inside, ma’am. I thought you sent me to come find the surgeon.”

“Sent you?” Elizabeth asked, brow furrowing. “I didn’t send you anywhere.”

The man’s eyes grew even wider, this time in fear. 

“So sorry, ma’am. So sorry,” the man repeated. “I must have misunderstood, ma’am.”

Elizabeth opened her mouth to reply, but stopped halfway. 

“Did you say that you were looking for a surgeon?”

“Yes, ma’am. Like I thought you asked me to.”

Ignoring the repeated assertion that she had somehow given this man orders to do something, Elizabeth crossed her arms.

“I am a surgeon.”

“You’re… you’re a surgeon?” the man asked. “But I thought you were an archaeologist-”

“An  _ archaeologist _ ?” Elizabeth let out a derisive laugh. “I didn’t repeat my bloody internship to be mistaken for an  _ archaeologist _ .”

The man’s mouth worked wordlessly for a moment before he just gave her a nervous smile and nodded quickly.

“Well, uh… then we should really get back, shouldn’t we?” he asked hesitantly. “You did call it a ‘medical emergency.’”

“A medical emergency?”

“Uh… yeah…”

All it took was the word ‘emergency’ to throw Elizabeth’s trauma surgeon instincts into full gear. She began back down the street, crossing her arms tighter against her against the frigid wind. The man in the coat struggled to keep up with her. 

“But ma’am, wait-”

“If it’s an emergency, then we’re wasting time standing here talking about it,” Elizabeth said, turning her head opposite the wind to make sure the man heard. “We need to get to the patient right away.”

Nardole had known his employer to do strange things before, but never like this. 

It was one thing to seduce her way into a murder cult or pretend to be a civilization’s long lost queen or even to drag the unconscious body of a tall white man with blonde curls and a rainbow coat into her ship, but to pretend like she didn’t remember telling him to do something? This was different. Very different. 

Nevertheless, when River Song gave you an order, you followed it. 

That was why he had gone down to the village after all. She’d sent him to fetch the surgeon she’d sent for. She hadn’t told him  _ why _ she sent for a surgeon, only that she had and it was his responsibility to go get them and bring them back to the ship. 

There was part of Nardole that felt miffed about being left out of the plans, but he knew deep down that there was a good reason for it. Being kept in the dark meant he was less likely to slip up and blurt out their plans/guilt/secrets when apprehended by the police. 

(The last time they went to Earth, his slip up nearly caused ruin by a platoon of Judoon near Saskatoon sometime in late June.)

This had to take the cake though, he thought. Sending him on a wild goose chase? Acting like she didn’t know who he was? Pretending to be a surgeon?

But just as Nardole felt frustration rise in his chest, the woman behind him spoke.

“Is… Is that a…  _ spaceship?” _

Nardole rolled his eyes at the way River pretended to marvel at the flying saucer crash landed in the snow. 

“Of course it is, ma’am. Now can we please get a move on?”

Elizabeth looked from the spaceship down to the man in front of her and frowned. 

“‘Of course it is’? Are you telling me you see spaceships _ every day _ ?”

Nardole, who was now only a few feet from the ship, stopped and turned back. But before he could ask what the hell she was on about, the door to the ship opened and a cloaked figure stepped out into the snow. 

“Well, you took your time.”

Nardole blanched at the sound of the figure’s voice, but Elizabeth took a few steps closer. The voice with which the figure - a woman so far as Elizabeth could tell - spoke was very clear and, unless Elizabeth was somehow mistaken... familiar?

“Um… ma’am?”

“I sent you to fetch the surgeon,” the figure continued. “Nardole, what  _ have  _ you brought to my doorstep?”

Nardole did not have time to respond before the figure dropped her hood. 

Elizabeth’s eyes bugged. 

The woman in front of her looked exactly like her. Not just similar but  _ exactly _ like her. Like identical twins separated at birth. 

But, unlike Elizabeth, the woman in front of her did not seem nearly as surprised to see an exact copy of herself standing before her. 

“Welllll…Hello, sweetie.” River said slowly, drawing out the words as a smirk curled her lips. “Can’t really say what my plan here was, but I certainly look forward to finding out.”

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! It's me again. I am physically incapable of not having something to write at all times, so here we are! 
> 
> As those of you in the _ER_ fandom probably know, I just wrapped up my very (very) long "unexpected circumstances" alternate universe with A Forest of Trees. While organizing my Google Drive, I found this story that I started almost exactly a year ago and never got very far with. However, I have to have a story to write 100% of the time or else I cannot practice self-care, so I decided it was time to dust this off and get to work. 
> 
> This is one of my favorite episodes of _Doctor Who_ and I think it is such not just because it's goofy, but also because it's sad and loving. So, be ready for a lot of Greeneday AND Twelve/River feels, because they _will_ be coming. And if you haven't read any of my work before... let's just say buckle up.
> 
> To quote the wonderful Mabel Pines from _Gravity Falls_ : "Just to warn _you_ , people's eyes _will_ get wet. Cause they' _ll_ be _crying_. From _laughing_! From how _tragic_ it is."
> 
> That's pretty much the best way to summarize anything I write. 
> 
> Thanks for reading. Until next time!


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